Baking Powder & Baking Soda

As the Swallow loves to bake cakes and cookies, baking powder and baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate) are two important ingredients that are must-haves in the Swallow's inventory.

Recently, the Swallow decided to bake a cake for her family's breakfast.  The butter had been laid out and was at room temperature, the flour had been measured and ready to be sifted with the salt and the baking soda....Oops!  That was when she realised that she had forgotten to replenish her baking soda which had run out some months back.  What was she going to do?

A quick search in her recipe books gave her no clues, but a check in Google drew three options

1. if one does not have baking powder, baking soda can be used instead, but there is nothing to be done if baking soda is not available (the Swallow ditched this - no help at all!)
2. use cream of tartar instead (this option also came with some scientific explanation about how it works but the Swallow had a hard time understanding (!), also the Swallow did not have any cream of tartar so she ditched this too)
3. use 1 tsp of baking powder instead (those who gave these answers said it would work)

So the Swallow decided to try option 3 and used baking powder to replace the baking soda.  If the Swallow goes by how fast the cake disappeared into her family's stomachs, then the verdict is 'It works!'